The present invention relates to splints for immobilizing injured body members, and particularly to an improved splint that can be shaped to support a patient's hand, wrist, and forearm in comfort, and a method for its use.
Splints for use in emergency and post-operative situations are known, for example, from Scheinberg, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,676,233 and 3,943,923, both of which teach the use of a soft metal sheet formed into a configuration that provides needed support for an injured limb. Bentele U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,175 discloses surgical splints incorporating formed sheet metal or molded plastic bases. Ender U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,537 discloses another splint based on the use of sheet aluminum material. Bolla et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,706 discloses a splint using a sheet of corrugated metal as its principal supporting structure.
Health care professionals have long used splints and casts fashioned out of plaster, fiberglass, preformed metal, or molded thermoplastic materials. These splints are designed to rigidly prevent motion and once formed into position cannot be reformed, for example to accommodate swelling, without considerable difficulty. A thermosetting plastic or fiberglass-reinforced resin splint once cured cannot be reformed. If swelling is excessive, a new fiberglass or plaster splint must be applied or an instrument resembling a large pliers (often referred to as a cast bender) is used to break the plaster or fiberglass material in order to relieve the pressure caused by the swelling. A thermoplastic splint is usually rigid and requires heat in order to be reformed. Preformed metal splints are also quite rigid and difficult to bend or mold. None of the above mentioned splints once formed allow a patient to perform any significant active movement or provide variably controlled active movement.
Active movement in a joint is movement performed by the patient, as opposed to passive movement, i.e., movement performed by a physical therapist. Controlled variable active movement is active movement that can be increased or decreased according to the desire of the treating health professional. For example, it is desirable for orthopedic surgeons to vary a patient's allowable active movement during a post-operative convalescent period—i.e., the surgeon might desire less active movement during the first post-operative week and greater movement during the second post-operative week. Today, active movement is thought to be of significant value in the rehabilitation and treatment of both fractures and soft tissue conditions. For example, following an open reduction and internal fixation of a distal radial (wrist) fracture orthopedic surgeons frequently direct their patients to remove their splints several times a day for active range of motion exercises. When these splints are removed patients are at increased risk of sustaining an injury. Therefore, it is desirable to have not only an easily formable splint to accommodate post injury swelling, but a splint capable of allowing variable degrees of active movement while remaining in place.
Where a person has received an injury to an ankle or forearm that needs to be immobilized, previously known conformable splint devices for use as disclosed in Scheinberg et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,923 and Scheinberg U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,233, available from The Seaberg Company, Inc. of Newport, Oreg. under the trademark SAM® SPLINT have been widely used. The lack of precise conformation of such splints to the limb allows unwanted rotation and lateral movement, which, in turn, could affect injuries occurring anywhere along the length of the encompassed limb.
In the case of an ankle or lower leg injury, it can be desirable to use an injured person's shoe or boot to provide some support and aid in immobilizing the injured parts, but the bulk resulting from use of the devices according to the mentioned Scheinberg U.S. patents directly on a person's ankle usually prevents replacement of a shoe or boot. In some cases, therefore, such a splint is placed around the outside and under the heel of a person's boot or shoe where it provides some useful support, but is less than ideal.
What is desired, then, is a splint that can readily be used to support an injured forearm or ankle, and which is not only more effective in controlling rotation and lateral movement, but more easily applied than previously available splints, and which can be easily used without causing discomfort, and which is small enough to permit replacement of a person's shoe or boot over a splinted ankle.